Curley's Wife in Mice and Men
Explore how Curley’s wife is affected by Prejudice
The other men call her and treat her like a tart. She is often demeaned and made to feel oppressed. One way in which I believe she is oppressed is by the way she’s not given a name, just referred to as Curley’s Wife, Curley’s property. “I ain’t used to living like this”, this quotation suggests that she is sick of being made to stay at home all day and just clean, cook and do all the chores around the house. I believe that Curley’s wife also feels demeaned by the way in which people call her names, like tart. “Married two weeks and got the eye”, this is an example of Candy judging her, even though he does not know the slightest thing about her. “They’s gonna be a bad mess about her”, this is an example of when George is speculating about what she is capable of, even though he has barely even met her by this stage.
In some ways, Curley’s wife is not all that different to the other Ranch workers, by the way in which she has a dream. “I coulda made somethin’ of myself...Maybe I will yet”, in this quotation she talks about her dream, a dream that she still deems as realistic. I believe that Steinbeck is trying to portray her as quite similar to the Ranch guys in some ways, by the way she also has a dream to get off the Ranch and do something that she loves. Whilst saying this, Steinbeck could also be trying to portray her as quite a gullible and ignorant person, in a way. This is by the way that she has completely fallen head over heals for two men, not just one, who tell her she could run off with them and be in the movies with them. Not only this, but she also managed to turn the blame on to her mother by saying, “I always thought my ol’ lady stole it”. Curley’s wife is talking about when she was expecting to receive letters from one of her ‘lovers’, but is gullible enough and ignorant enough to end up taking it out on her mother and marrying Curley in spite of that incident.
It could be inferred that this
The other men call her and treat her like a tart. She is often demeaned and made to feel oppressed. One way in which I believe she is oppressed is by the way she’s not given a name, just referred to as Curley’s Wife, Curley’s property. “I ain’t used to living like this”, this quotation suggests that she is sick of being made to stay at home all day and just clean, cook and do all the chores around the house. I believe that Curley’s wife also feels demeaned by the way in which people call her names, like tart. “Married two weeks and got the eye”, this is an example of Candy judging her, even though he does not know the slightest thing about her. “They’s gonna be a bad mess about her”, this is an example of when George is speculating about what she is capable of, even though he has barely even met her by this stage.
In some ways, Curley’s wife is not all that different to the other Ranch workers, by the way in which she has a dream. “I coulda made somethin’ of myself...Maybe I will yet”, in this quotation she talks about her dream, a dream that she still deems as realistic. I believe that Steinbeck is trying to portray her as quite similar to the Ranch guys in some ways, by the way she also has a dream to get off the Ranch and do something that she loves. Whilst saying this, Steinbeck could also be trying to portray her as quite a gullible and ignorant person, in a way. This is by the way that she has completely fallen head over heals for two men, not just one, who tell her she could run off with them and be in the movies with them. Not only this, but she also managed to turn the blame on to her mother by saying, “I always thought my ol’ lady stole it”. Curley’s wife is talking about when she was expecting to receive letters from one of her ‘lovers’, but is gullible enough and ignorant enough to end up taking it out on her mother and marrying Curley in spite of that incident.
It could be inferred that this